BT claims several Google services infringe its patents in new lawsuit

19 Dec 201139 Views

Telecommunications firm BT has filed a lawsuit against Google in the US, claiming that Android and other Google services have infringed six of its patents.

FOSS Patents reports that BT alleges Google’s products and services use technologies the telecoms company invented before Google was founded. It claims several of Google’s services infringe on BT’s US patents, including Android, AdWords, Gmail, Google Docs and Google Maps. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court in Delaware.

BT has operations in more than 170 countries, including Ireland. The company was founded more than 160 years ago and through work at its research facility in Adastral Park in Suffolk in England, it owns more than 10,000 patents.

BT alleges six of its patents were infringed, including one based on a “navigation information system,” one for “storage and retrieval of location-based information in a distributed network of data-storage devices” and one for a “telecommunications apparatus and method.”

BT is seeking compensation from Google, along with an injunction on services which it claims infringes its patents.

It’s the latest in a number of patent lawsuits filed against Google. Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, eBay and Gemalto have previously brought patent lawsuits against the search giant.